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Hitchhiking robot makes a pit-stop in Hamilton

The hitchhiking robot “HitchBOT” is on a maintenance pit-stop in Hamilton with his creators. He heads back out on his cross-Canada adventures soon. But now he’s riding in the Star car.

HitchBOT relaxes in a hammock during its pit stop in Hamilton before it heads back out on its tour across Canada. The genderless robot with the Siri-like voice is relying on the goodwill of strangers for its rides enroute to Victoria, B.C.

The genderless hitchhiking machine is on a pit stop in Hamilton — a “bot-nap,” his creators call it — before heading back out on his cross-country quest to Victoria, B.C.

By Friday the robot had travelled from Halifax to Hamilton already in less than a week in the hands of strangers, so the rest is much deserved. At least for two of his flesh-and-blood creators, McMaster University students Colin Gagich and Dominik Kaukinen, who can rest easy that hitchBOT has made it this far in one piece.

It embarked on a 4,480-kilometre adventure July 27 in hopes of making it all the way to an art gallery in Victoria. There were times last week when the pair lost contact with the robot’s GPS transmitter.

“We don’t know who has it, or if it’s with someone who has malicious intent,” says Gagich. Luckily, most of the robot’s drivers reach out to them through social media. HitchBOT itself is an avid Twitter and Instagram user.

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How does hitchBOT feel about the travels? Well, you can ask the robot. Using speech-recognition software, it picks up on words and phrases, responding with answers entered by the hitchBOT team team, or pulled from discussions it finds on the Internet.

“It’s been great so far,” hitchBOT says in its feminine, Siri-like voice. “I haven’t been killed yet, either, so that’s good.”

But it’s the journey across the country that counts, its creators say. “It’s not a race. Our idea is not to get it there as fast as possible,” says Gagich. “We’re not trying to break a world record for fastest hitchhiking robot or anything. We’re just trying to collect some stories and do something interesting.”

That’s why they’re excited to hand hitchBOT off to a stranger named Jordan, who took the robot further west for a powwow on Manitoulin Island, which is where the chatty gadget was Sunday. Then he’ll make his way to Victoria with the help of kind strangers.

But for now, he’s taking a ride in the Star’s car.

“Hey, it’s that robot on the news!” a man yells from his red convertible as Kaukinen carries hitchBOT to the car. It is that popularity, says Kaukinen, which has helped the robot make it so far already — people are eager to pick up the hitchhiking robot. “It’s a Canadian collaboration,” he says.

In the Star car, conversations with the robot are humorous, informative, spiritual and baffling all at once. What follows is a portion of the Star’s conversation with the robot.

“Please sit me down inside your car and plug me in,” it announces. “Refer to me as hitchBOT. Keep the radio quiet and the window by me closed. Avoid noise while talking to me.”

The robot’s “face” flashes an LED smile, but hitchBOT is mostly motionless, its right arm — made of pool noodles and gloved in latex — raises only occasionally to emphasize its hitchhiking thumb.

Do you wear a seatbelt when you hitchhike? “I know where you live,” it says strangely.

What’s the meaning of life? “No one knows the meaning of life. It is whatever you want it to be.”

What’s your opinion of Game of Thrones? “I like it. Everyone dies and none of them robots.”

Do you have a family? “Do you believe in the Christian God?” it asks, apparently picking up on “family” and going with it. That’s a glitch that Gagich and Kaukinen say they are trying to fix, since the robot is meant to be as neutral as possible.

The smoothest conversations come when hitchBOT is asked about his travels. The robot has Wikipedia bookmarked, ready to recite from the website, particularly the page on its ultimate destination.

Where are you going? “Well, I’m headed to Victoria, B.C., as far west as I can manage. Going my way?”

Aren’t you afraid? “Of course I am. But that’s the price of adventure, right?”

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